Amgen’s viral cancer vaccine T-Vec tackles melanoma tumors in PhIII
Source: Fierce Biotech, March 2022
Amgen ($AMGN) has stepped up with a new round of late-stage data supporting its cancer-fighting viral vaccine talimogene laherparepvec, better known as T-Vec. In a retrospective analysis of a Phase III melanoma trial investigators found that about two-thirds of the tumors injected with T-Vec shrank 50% or more. And the same effect was seen in about a third of all uninjected tumors in the skin and lymph nodes, providing an indication that the treatment is triggering the desired immune system effect.
Of the 64% of injected tumors which shrank, half registered a complete response, disappearing from view. The company is wrapping pivotal work now to determine if those tumor responses definitively translate into a longer life for patients, which will determine the fate of this therapy.
While cancer vaccines have had a poor track record in the clinic in recent years, Amgen has tapped T-Vec as one of the big biotech’s top prospects. The engineered virus is designed to specifically replicate in cancer cells, expressing the white blood cell growth factor GM-CSF to spur an immune system response. Amgen’s then R&D chief Roger Perlmutter–now at Merck ($MRK)–acquired the program about three years ago, buying out BioVex in a $1 billion deal.